Beyond the sound of wind in trees beyond the storm-enshadowed seas, on stairs of sunlit stone the fair daughter of Airek stands …
On one of the empty tables Ranya had left her tëanb, a flat, keyed instrument, said to be of Hainish origin. Parth picked out a tune in the melancholic Stepped Mode of the Eastern Forest, then retuned the instrument to its native scale and began anew. She had no skill with the tëanb and found the notes slowly, singing the words, spinning them out to keep the melody going as she sought the next note.
Beyond the sound of wind in trees
beyond the storm-enshadowed seas,
on stairs of sunlit stone the fair
daughter of Airek stands …
She lost the tune, then found it again: …
stands,
silent, with empty hands.
A legend, who knew how old, from a world incredibly remote, its words and tune had been part of man’s heritage for centuries. Parth sang on very softly, alone in the great firelit room, snow and twilight darkening the windows.
